Russia-Ukraine War

Exercise at the counter and kicking the foot: Operation to rescue 9-year-old Ariel between army checkpoints and militias

After Ariel Kolszow's exciting reunion with his family in Poland, Walla!

The rescuer shared Magnus' moments of tension and anxiety until the operation was successful.

Between the blocked roads, and the black-armed men holding weapons, Magnus concluded the rescue by saying that "the country that responds most to its citizens is Israel."

Yoav Itiel, Walla!

To Eastern Europe

02/03/2022

Wednesday, 02 March 2022, 22:20 Updated: 22:36

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In the video: 9-year-old Ariel Kolshov's meeting with his parents (Walla system!)

Chilik Magnus, who is in Ukraine with the aim of rescuing Israelis who are stuck, describes Walla!

The rescue operation of 9-year-old Ariel David Kolshov, who was cut off from his family who moved to Poland.

"I treat everything as a world and its fullness," Magnus said.

"The situations are never the same and you can not say I know one situation or another. It would be nonsense to say," says Magnus, who next week will be 73 and pioneers in locating and rescuing travelers around the world.

"Mass incidents we know of from terrorist attacks, tsunamis, earthquakes and it is a mass event on a large scale. On the other hand the number of factors that create the situation is much clearer. .

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Chilik Magnus at the collection point in Lvov, yesterday (Photo: Walla !, no)

"I also take everything personally," says Magnus, "as soon as I see such a child I fall in love with him as if it were my son. And that means then I can stand three and a half hours at minus five degrees without having a single cold and I take risks not "I would take for no one and then it also does not endanger me. I do not believe in dangers."

Magnus says that "I could not talk to the boy because he speaks only Russian and I do not speak a word of Russian except for a few basic concepts and a few curses. But he had no difficulty and he was charming. I communicated with him when I spoke Hebrew and he answered me with hand gestures and facial expressions "And there was very pleasant communication. We sat hugging all the way."

"On the way from Lvov to the border crossing there is now a checkpoint every two kilometers.

The checkpoint is built of cross irons as in the First World War.

Between them are necklaces with small cross irons.

There are large concrete blocks and on the side they dig ditches.

Next to all this there is a mound of white sandbags and dozens of people dressed in black stand with the soldiers and policemen holding weapons of all kinds, both Kalashnikovs and old-fashioned rifles and shotguns.

They are all with flashlights and they are shining on you and coming to check on you papers.

So I was lucky that the local driver I hired got along with 99% of the checkpoints and also bypassed the traffic jams and passed them from the side.

At night, at one of the checkpoints of a militia, we were asked to check certificates and also the trunk and then he also wanted to take out the luggage and then started opening the bags. "

Chilik Magnus at the Sheine-Medika border crossing, Poland, today (Photo: Walla !, no)

"At this point Hilik pulled out a Polish translation of a letter prepared for him by the Austrian Consul to Poland to allow him freedom of movement for his humanitarian mission in Ukraine. There were moments of tension." on our way".

"Apart from this incident, we passed dozens of checkpoints and dozens of traffic jams. When we reached the border crossing checkpoint, there was a convoy of kilometers. We bypassed them all. Then we crossed the border, with a minor child without papers, And wish luck out of the corner of my eye on the right And I immediately add my passport to their passports as if I were a part of them, as if I was the boy's grandfather, and I give him a slight push to go forward to the other side of the counter. Who understood nothing. "

"It is the laughter of fate that we are here because on this cursed land our ancestors burned our ancestors," says Magnus whose parents were Holocaust survivors and whose father did the post-war years in aid of refugees.

"The curse remains here and nothing has changed. Putin has already invaded Ukraine, the Russian army is inside the country and they are sitting and sending them packages for help. Why are they waiting? What do they think will happen? That if they intervene it will lead to some aggravation? "Intervene and let Putin understand that he can not continue in this way. They are sending 'help.' Help with what?"

Chilik Magnus at the Sheine-Medika border crossing, Poland.

Today (Photo: Walla !, no)

Since the beginning of the week, PassportCard has been assisting the rescuer, mainly in an attempt to locate Israelis waiting in the huge queue that stretched on the exit from Ukraine to Poland at the Sheine-Medica crossing.

"Some of the people standing in line are suffering from medical problems and our team is trying to locate them, get to them and get them out quickly."

It is estimated that several thousand Israelis still remain inside Ukraine.

But the exact number of Israelis waiting in line was not clear at any stage.

"It's hard to guess how many there are but it was clear to us that there are, and on the first night of his arrival he had already managed to locate such and promote him on the Polish side. There were further inquiries but some turned out to be an impossible task for the staff. "It turned out that they were near Kiev. The local authorities have studied the area and in the meantime have organized to reduce the queues, but there is no certainty that this will remain the case."

"The country that responds most to its citizens is Israel. Perhaps the only one," Magnus concludes his cooperation with the Foreign Ministry.

"The hands of the Foreign Ministry here are busy with work. They help, help and provide. The State of Israel provides humanitarian aid and provides equipment and meets needs. We have already learned what is happening here in Europe. There are some of the deadliest nations in the world. If anyone looks today where the wars were The deadliest people then were also in Europe. "

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